Dublin Zoo are delighted to announce the recent arrival of a baby southern white rhinoceros calf to their fold!
The male calf, who is yet to be named, was born to mother Ashanti and father Chaka at 1.45pm on Thursday, 25th August and weighs approximately 60kgs.
The youngster joins his parents and the rest of the herd - Sam, Reni, Chaka, Zanta, Nyala - at the African Savanna.
The newborn is Ashanti’s fifth calf and is another significant success for Dublin Zoo as part of the European Endangered Species Programme established to assist the survival of the near threatened southern white rhinoceros.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the new arrival," Helen Clarke-Bennet, team leader of the African Plains said.
"Ashanti is an experienced mother and the birth was very relaxed. The mother and calf are bonding and will remain very close for the first year of his life.”
With numbers as low as 50 left in the wild in the early 1900s, this subspecies of white rhino increased to become the most common of all the rhino species. However, the alarming increase in poaching since 2008 threatens the rhinoceros population in the wild.
It is estimated that 20,000 of these animals exist in the wild, the majority are found in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya. Poaching for rhino horn is the most significant threat to the wild population.
Dublin Zoo financially supports the conservation organisation Lowveld Rhino Trust, who are based in Zimbabwe and help protect rhinos from poachers.
